Texas lawmakers were quick to point to mental health issues, rather than lax gun laws, as the root cause of the Allen, Texas mass shooting. However, they are slow to improve mental health services.
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After a gunman killed eight people at a mall in Allen, Texas earlier this month, the public debate about what to do about it quickly split into two familiar themes: tougher gun laws or better mental health support. Caroline Love from the KERA member station in Dallas reports that wherever they stop on this issue, Texas politicians are slow to act.
CAROLINE LOVE, BYLINE: The day after a heavily armed shooter accidentally shot 15 people, killing eight, at a mall, Republican politicians in Texas were quick to blame mental health, not guns.
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GREG ABBOTT: We’re working to address this anger and violence by addressing its root cause, which is the underlying mental health issues.
KEITH SELF: We have mental health people we don’t care about.
JEFF LEACH: I’m not sure we have any bills in front of us this morning that could prevent that. I don’t know. I don’t know.
LOVE: It was Gov. Greg Abbott on Fox News USA, Rep. Keith Self on CNN, and Rep. Jeff Leach of Texas on the House floor after the shooting. Blaming mental health is a scapegoat, says Nicole Golden of gun reform group Texas Gun Sense.
NICOLE GOLDEN: For those who know they’re not going to vote with us for political reasons, sensitive gun security measures try to distract and sidetrack the conversation.
LOVE: Golden says that if mental health was indeed the main reason, then lawmakers should step up background checks and pass red flag laws. The Pentagon confirmed that the shooter was discharged from the army on mental health grounds in 2008. But people with mental health problems rarely become so violent. In fact, most of them are victims of violence, says Allison Moore Boulver. She’s from the Hogg Mental Health Foundation. She worries about the connection between mental health struggles and mass shootings.
ALISON MORE BOLEUER: The last thing we want is to increase the stigma so that people don’t want the help they need.
LOVE: Texas ranked last in access to mental health care in the latest Mental Health America report. There are rural areas without enough suppliers. And nearly 800,000 Texan adults with mental illness are uninsured because the state didn’t expand the Medicaid program. Texas lawmakers are trying to increase mental health funding. Gov. Abbott’s spokesman says he is in budget talks to boost mental health spending by about $2 billion. Gun rights groups welcome the focus on more mental health services rather than gun restrictions. Chris McNutt of Texas Gun Rights says gun reform will not solve the problem of mass shootings.
CHRIS McNUTT: They want to take the guns. You know, we tell everyone, they say, no, you will not take our weapons. And it’s simple – we see it again and again, and nothing is solved.
LOVE: Time to pass a meaningful gun or mental health law is running out before the end of the session. So Texans might be stuck in the same debate the next time there’s a mass shooting. For NPR news, I’m Caroline Love from Dallas.
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